Decriminalisation increases sex workers’ safety and well-being. New Zealand decriminalised sex work in 2003 with verifiable success. Over 90% of sex workers said they had additional employment, legal, health and safety rights. One important measure of this is that prior to decriminalisation 47% of brothel workers had refused to see a client in the previous 12 months, after decriminalisation 68% of brothel workers had done this. 70% said they were more likely to report incidents of violence to the police.
For more information see our briefing Why Decriminalisation? and report Decriminalisation of Prostitution: the Evidence.
The English Collective of Prostitutes has created a pledge for sex worker rights – find out who supports it. BY MARGARET CORVID If you haven’t decided who to vote for yet, consider sex worker rights. This is an election animated by the spirit of a new politics, when SNP, Plaid Cymru and Greens speak, loudly and […]
On the day before the election sex workers are announcing the results of their e-campaign to find out where electoral candidates stand on prioritising the safety of sex workers by decriminalising prostitution. Laura Watson from the English Collective of Prostitutes said: “Our results are in! We got responses from many parts of the UK including […]
In 1975, two immigrant women living in England heard about church occupations and a strike of sex workers in France protesting brutal murders and the refusal of the police to investigate them. Encouraged and inspired, the two women formed the English Collective of Prostitutes to campaign for the abolition of the prostitution laws. Our first […]
Campaigners in Coventry are calling for prostitution to be legalized, claiming that local police efforts to clamp down on the issue are leading to a dramatic worsening of sex workers’ conditions. The English Collective of Prostitutes, which has campaigned for the legalization of sex work since 1975, says that current policing tactics are making prostitutes’ […]
By Sam Dimmer’It’s not rocket science – it’s just consensual sex between adults’As police in Coventry continue their seemingly never-ending battle with sex workers and their clients in the city’s red light district campaign groups are calling for a radical change in tactics.They believe that crackdowns like Operation Scarlet – the name for police efforts to tackle prostitution […]
In the lead-up to the general election, we have the chance to move the debate forwards, towards the full decriminalisation of sex work. BY MARGARET CORVID When I became a sex worker, I thought I was entering a marginal, grey area, as far away from politics as any occupation can be. Instead, I found myself part […]
If progress is to be made now an amendment to the modern slavery bill has been defeated, MPs must invite us into the discussion Niki Adams theguardian.com ‘Swedish sex workers have said that since clients have been criminalised, they have been treated worse by the authorities.’ This week, the tide turned against attempts to attack sex […]
This branch calls on the Labour Party to support sex workers’ demands for decriminalisation of sex work. Ending criminalisation would increase safety as sex workers could work together and report violence without fear of arrest.This branch calls on the Labour Party to oppose proposals to criminalise clients as they would drive sex workers further underground […]
By Sarah Noble Tuesday, Parliament will debate the Report Stage of the Modern Slavery Bill, and in particular, an amendments that would criminalise the purchase of sex in England and Wales, similar to the one that was passed in Northern Ireland just a couple of weeks ago. It’s important that, as Liberal Democrats, we oppose […]
Consenting sex is not a crime! 4.00pm – 5.00pmQueen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS. 2nd Floor, Room 2.41Gay sex has been decriminalised yet the criminalisation of sex work has increased. Why should two adults who want to have consensual sexual contact with each other in private not be able to do […]